Hello, everyone! As you know, Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel airs in exactly two hours. The next day, I can watch it and send in my review to Marvel Disassembled, a Marvel review blog. However, I know that a lot of people don’t understand what Phineas and Ferb is. This blog post is meant to help you. I will try to not include spoilers, but if I have to, you will be warned. First up, the main characters:

Phineas Flynn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Phineas Flynn-Fletcher:

He is bright, optimistic, and has grand plans for every day! His age, par for the course for the younger characters, has not been revealed. The creators merely say that they are ‘less than fourteen.’ I am not the best at describing characters, so I will look to the Phineas and Ferb wiki for the rest. Source: http://phineasandferb.wikia.com/wiki/Phineas

“As an incurable optimist, Phineas constantly looks on the brighter side of things. He is also extremely smart, creative, persistent, and able to endeavor in immensely large projects and activities with the help of his stepbrother. His hospitality is a driving force behind many of his plans.”

It should also be noted that he has only been angry or depressed twice in the show’s five year history. If something happens to dampen his mood, things are serious.

Ferb Fletcher:

“Ferb very rarely speaks, but is not actually shy as others would assume. He is very courageous and has the ability to think quickly and stay calm in the midst of desperate scenarios. A notable skill of his is a technical and technological proficiency he shares with his stepbrother which he can easily take advantage of and build almost anything he chooses to.” Source: http://phineasandferb.wikia.com/wiki/Ferb

Ferb is Phineas’s step-brother, but they are incredibly close, nonetheless. People have asked who Ferb’s dad and Phineas’s mother will never be shown in the series. As you can guess many fan-fictions have been made about their parents.

Perry The Platypus:

Perry the Platypus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Perry, their pet platypus, is actually a covert agent working for the O.W.C.A. (Organization Without A Cool Acronym.) (All of the agents are animals, which leads to some humorous scenes, especially one that mentions Major Monogram being sent to “Animal Sensitivity Training.” More on him later.) If Phineas and Ferb find out that he is a secret agent, then their minds will be wiped, and he will be sent to another location. He has many skills. I would put a list from the wiki, but it’s incredibly long. Suffice it to say that he is James Bond with a tail. (And a fedora!) His job is to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz from committing various activities that range from petty crime to stupid behavior. (Ex: Learning whale-speak for the sole purpose of insulting a whale that stole his girlfriend. I am not kidding.) Finally, Perry loves his family. For example, after realizing that one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s schemes may unintentionally hurt Phineas and Ferb, he chains Dr. Doofenshmirtz to the wall and tries to get him arrested, instead of the customary “Destroy His Invention And Leave” tactic.

Major Monogram and Carl:

Major Monogram is Perry’s boss, and the apparent leader of the O.W.C.A. Two side jokes have been mentioned about him going to something called “The Academy” in his past, but they mostly consisted of him looking into the distance and saying “The Academy.” Carl is the unpaid intern, who he has to deal with every day. Major Monogram is the one on the left, Carl is the one on the right.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz:

Inventor. Founder of an evil group called L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. Hilariously abusive childhood. (HE HAD TO BE A LAWN GNOME!! He was raised by ocelots for a couple of years, his parents never showed on the day of his birth, etc. It gets even funnier.) Weird person. He rambles, and is generally incompetent in his role as an evil scientist. He has a daughter, Vanessa, who doesn’t really like him. He has an ex-wife named Charlene. Despite all of his struggles, his “inators” (suffix on all of his inventions- Blow Itself Up-Inator, Shrinkinator, Bring-Out-Dessert Inator), really would succeed, if he just stopped putting self-destruct inventions on them. He once created an army of giant robots to destroy the Tri-State Area with, and put self destruct buttons on their feet. “And…MARCH!” *BOOM*

Candace Flynn:

Older sister of Phineas. She primarily wants to “bust” the boys for their activities. She has an obsessive crush on Jeremy, and they started dating as of the fourth season. Several jokes on the show have questioned her sanity.

Stacy:

Candace’s best friend. MAJOR SPOILER: She recently discovered Perry’s status as a secret agent. He agreed that because she isn’t a member of the Flynn-Fletcher household, she can keep her memories. Major Monogram doesn’t know about this. For a show that is entirely based on status quo, this is huge. END SPOILERS

Linda Flynn-Fletcher

Mother of Phineas and Candace. Extremely patient. Used to be a pop star called Lindana. (Madonna parody)

Lawrence Fletcher:

Father of Ferb, British, owns an antique store.

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro:

Next-door neighbor to Phineas and Ferb. Has a (sometimes creepy) crush on Phineas, he is not aware of it. Head of the Fireside Girls troop.

Buford and Baljeet:

Buford is the one on the left. He was the stereotypical bully in his first appearance, but he is now a close friend of everyone. Bullies Baljeet, sort of. Baljeet is the one on the right. He enjoys math, and gets furious if you don’t give him a grade. (It was in a summer camp. Look up the song.) Their relationship can best be described in a literal song and dance routine done in one episode, entitled “Frenemies.” (That’s the name of the song, not the episode.)

Irving:

Not really a main character, but he’s funny. Imagine a fanboy of Phineas and Ferb. Someone who obsessively watches the show. That’s Irving. Originally put in as a joke, he’s now become a supporting character. Also, he is in Mission Marvel, according to one clip. Hence, his appearance in this post.

STANDARD PLOT OF Phineas and Ferb:

The show is very formulaic, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Firstly, the “A Plot” revolves around Phineas and Ferb’s plan for the day. Building a roller-coaster, finding a mummy, discovering do-do birds, giving a monkey a shower (Had to be done), making a beach in their backyard, traveling across the earth in one day, going into outer space multiple times, doing nothing (They literally did nothing for one episode. It still counts as a plan), becoming pop stars (More on that later), making a pioneer village, giant fort, rocket to the moon, lemonade stand (and lemonade-making robot), finding the Lake Nosey monster, putting Candace’s face on Mount Rushmore for her birthday, and building a rollercoaster- AS A MUSICAL! There’s more things, but this post is already too long. They have done the impossible many times over.

The “B Plot” is Candace’s increasingly frantic attempts to bust them. Why? Many reasons have been speculated. Jealousy, concern, or just because are just some of the reasons. Her unraveling sanity is a symptom of this obsession. (She has “sleep-busted” before. “Mom….Zzzz….Mom…..Zzz…..”) Her obsession also interferes with hanging out with Stacy and spending time with Jeremy.

Finally, the “C Plot” is Perry’s (usually) successful attempts to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz from hypnotizing pigeons to poop on his brother (Mayor, better than Doofenshmirtz), removing all the zinc from the ocean, and his ultimate goal of taking over the Tri-State Area. Either that, or Danville. (Side note: No one knows where Danville is.)

Typically, all of the plots coincide near the end of the episode. Phineas’s and Ferb’s invention will accidentally disappear just before Candace busts them, due to Dr. D’s inventions. The one time it didn’t happen (only shown at the beginning of one episode), they allegedly spent the whole night cleaning it up.

Songs are a key part of the show. Earlier, I mentioned an episode where they became pop stars. That started the song “Gitchee Gitchee Goo”, and possibly the only good example of executive meddling (Trope Alert) that Disney has ever done. (Yes, I sound biased, but only because I am. I only like the cartoons on Disney. CURSE THE LAUGH TRACKS!!!) Anyway, every episode now has a song or multiple songs. They have ranged from background music, to the character’s themselves, and multiple genres have been utilized. Rap, country and western, and other things. I’m not good at music. I don’t like songs, but this show has some of the best one’s that I have ever heard.

Humor:

This deserves an entire category.

Beware, some of this may be a little biased. Phineas and Ferb has smart jokes, including allusions to popular movies and television shows that the creators grew up in. Other jokes are puns, sight gags, weird sentences…Okay, it’s really hard for me to describe it. Ever heard of TV Tropes? Try the “Funny” page for Phineas and Ferb. I’m sorry. I can describe this part: Some of the jokes are fourth-wall orientated. In fact, in “Tri-Stone Area” (Cave-people versions of the characters), the creators made an appearance.

You can’t tell from the picture, but the type of footage to show them was “live-action photo animation”, because they ran out of money in the budget. Not in the show, but as a joke in the episode.

Conclusion

I’m sorry if this description made no sense at all, and I’m sorry if this was too long. (I know that the photos are big, I couldn’t find anything smaller.) I hope that this acts as a good guide for Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel, and remember to subscribe to Marvel Disassembled. I didn’t start the blog (One person has made that mistake), I simply review Marvel’s animated shows. Have a good day, everyone. It airs in two hours!